Good evening, everybody. I just met with my National Security Council
as part of our regular effort to review and intensify our campaign to
destroy ISIL. I want to thank Secretary Kerry for hosting us and for
his leadership of American diplomacy, not only in the Middle East but
around the world. Secretary Carter and Chairman Dunford updated us on
our military campaign, and Brett McGurk, my special envoy to our
coalition, helped lead a review of our overall strategy.

At the outset, I want to say, again, that this remains a difficult
fight. The situation in Syria and Iraq is one of the most complex the
world has seen in recent times. ISIL is entrenched, including in urban
areas, using innocent civilians as human shields. Even in places where
ISIL has been driven out, it leaves behind utter devastation --
communities in ruin that need to be stabilized and rebuilt, which will
take years and tremendous international resources, because, certainly in
Iraq, they’re hard-pressed to come up with everything that they need to
rebuild, and in Syria, the regime there still is not constituted in such
a way that it is investing in civilian populations.

Countries, communities and groups that agree on fighting ISIL in the
short term often don’t agree on broader, long-term goals. Indeed, the
fight in Syria is not only a civil war, but it’s also a proxy war
between regional powers, reflecting deep sectarian and political
rivalries. Russia’s intervention and airstrikes have reinforced the
Assad regime and made a humanitarian catastrophe even worse. And the
entire world has been horrified by images of starving Syrians --
including children -- reduced to near skeletons.

So this is a tough situation with a lot of moving parts. And as a
consequence, I want to thank John for his tireless efforts, along with
his team, to reach a cessation of hostilities in the civil war. None of
us are under any illusions. We’re all aware of the many potential
pitfalls, and there are plenty of reasons for skepticism. But history
would judge us harshly if we did not do our part in at least trying to
end this terrible conflict with diplomacy.

If implemented -- and that’s a significant “if” -- this cessation could
reduce the violence and get more food and aid to Syrians who are
suffering and desperately need it. It could save lives. Potentially,
it could also lead to negotiations on a political settlement to end the
civil war so that everybody can focus their attention on destroying ISIL.
And that’s why the United States will do everything we can to maximize
the chances of success in this cessation of hostilities. At the same
time, I want to make totally clear that there will be absolutely no
cease-fire with respect to ISIL. We remain relentless in going after
them.

About two months ago, at the Pentagon, I said that we had to squeeze
ISIL’s core in Syria and Iraq -- its heart -- to make it harder for
these killers to pump their terror and their propaganda to the rest of
the world. And over the last two months, the good news is we’ve done
exactly that. We’ve continued to intensify our efforts, and we’re
seeing results.

Today, I directed my team to continue accelerating this campaign on all
fronts. Our 66-member coalition, including Arab partners, continues to
grow stronger. Over the past two months, thanks to Secretary Carter’s
good work, just about all of our military partners have agreed to
increase their contributions, buying into our conception of how we ramp
us the pressure on ISIL. Dutch aircraft are now striking ISIL targets
in Syria. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are expanding their
role in the air campaign. Canada is tripling its personnel to help
train and advise forces in Iraq.

Every day, our air campaign -- more than 10,000 strikes so far --
continues to destroy ISIL forces, infrastructure and heavy weapons. ISIL
fighters are learning that they’ve got no safe haven. We can hit them
anywhere, anytime -- and we do. In fact, ISIL still has not had a
single successful major offensive operation in Syria or Iraq since last
summer. And we continue to go after ISIL leaders and commanders --
taking them out, day in, day out, one after another after another.

With coalition training, equipment and support -- including our Special
Forces -- local forces continue to push ISIL back out of territory that
they had previously held. After intense block-by-block fighting, Iraqi
forces recently succeeded in pushing ISIL out of Ramadi. ISIL has now
lost a series of key Iraqi towns and cities -- more than 40 percent of
the areas it once controlled in Iraq. And today, we discussed the next
phases of this fight, including moving against ISIL in the city of Hīt,
and the resources needed to retake Anbar Province and Mosul. And as we
approach the G7 this spring, I’ll continue to work with the
international community so Iraq gets the financial support it needs to
sustain this campaign, rebuild communities that have been devastated by
ISIL presence, and pursue critical economic reforms.

Meanwhile, in Syria, a coalition of local forces continues to push ISIL
back, including out of the strategic Tishrin Dam area. Now they’re
battling ISIL at al-Shaddadi. And they’re continuing to squeeze ISIL’s
stronghold of Raqqa, cutting off highways and supply lines. Raqqa is
not the capital of a growing caliphate; it’s increasingly under stress
as ISIL territory shrinks.

Thanks to our wave of strikes against its oil infrastructure, tanker
trucks, wells and refineries, ISIL’s oil production and revenues are
significantly reduced. We’re destroying the storage sites where ISIL
holds its cash -- its money is literally going up in smoke. As a
result, ISIL has been forced to slash the salaries of its fighters,
which, increasingly, diminishes their morale. We continue to hear
reports of defections, and executions of those who try to defect.

At the same time, thanks to the coordination of many nations --
including Turkey’s continuing work to tighten its border -- the flow of
foreign terrorist fighters into Syria finally appears to be slowing.
The bottom line is there are fewer ISIL fighters on the battlefield in
Syria and Iraq, and for those who are there, it’s harder for them to
recruit and replenish their ranks.

As its finances shrink, ISIL is also imposing more taxes and fines on
those under its brutal rule. That, in turn, stokes even more resentment
among local populations. More people are realizing that ISIL is not a
caliphate, it’s a crime ring. “It’s a criminal gang pretending to be a
state,” said one Syrian refugee. “They turned out to be thieves,” said
another. ISIL, said one Syrian, “has made an enemy of almost everyone.”

So they’re not winning over hearts and minds, and they’re under severe
pressure. But as we’ve said all along, the only way to deal with ISIL
in a way that defeats them in a lasting way is to end the chaos and the
civil war that has engulfed Syria. That’s how ISIL was able to thrive
in the first place. The cessation of hostilities that’s scheduled to
take effect at midnight tomorrow is a potential step in bringing about
an end to the chaos.

Even under the best of circumstances, we don’t expect the violence to
end immediately. In fact, I think we are certain that there will
continue to be fighting, in part because not only ISIL, but
organizations like Al Nusra that is not part of any negotiations and is
hostile to the United States, is going to continue to fight.

But everybody knows what needs to happen, and that is all parties that
are part of the cessation of activities need to end attacks, including
aerial bombardment. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach areas
under siege. And a lot of that is going to depend on whether the Syrian
regime, Russia, and their allies live up to their commitments. The
coming days will be critical, and the world will be watching.

More broadly, this is going to be a test of whether the parties are
truly committed to negotiations. The process agreed to in Vienna is
clear -- a transition toward a more inclusive representative government,
a new constitution, followed by free elections.

I will say it again: Such a future, I am convinced, cannot include
Bashar al-Assad. It’s clear that after years of his barbaric war
against his own people -- including torture, and barrel bombs, and
sieges, and starvation -- many Syrians will never stop fighting until
Assad is out of power. There’s no alternative to a managed transition
away from Assad. It’s the only way to end the civil war and unite the
Syrian people against terrorists.

This is an area where there’s still significant dispute between us and
the Russians, between us and the Iranians, between us and some of the
other players on the ground. And the question is going to be whether
the cessation of hostilities gives all the parties concerned an
opportunity to reflect and assess what, in fact, will be required in
order for us to see an end to the fighting in Syria.

Beyond Syria and Iraq, I want to point out that we continue to go after
ISIL wherever it tries to take root, working with partners from Nigeria
to Afghanistan. As we showed last week with our strike on an ISIL
training camp in Libya, which targeted a senior ISIL operative, we will
continue to use the full range of tools to eliminate ISIL threats
wherever they are. Meanwhile, the United States will continue to
support the Libyan people as they work to form a new government and
regain control of their country, as we’ve seen in recent days with
Libyans celebrating in the streets as ISIL was driven from parts of
Benghazi.

Even as we continue our military and counterterrorism efforts, we also
recognize that it’s not enough to defeat ISIL on the battlefield. We’re
going to have to defeat its ideology, which radicalizes, recruits, and
inspires people to violence. The United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and
Saudi Arabia are stepping up their efforts to discredit ISIL propaganda.

Here at the State Department, our new Global Engagement Center will do
more to lift up voices that expose ISIL as the murderers that they are
-- killers of innocent Muslim men, women and children. And my
administration is working with high-tech leaders in Silicon Valley,
including Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter to help counter ISIL online and
to empower more people, especially young people, to use their talents
and technology to push back on ISIL’s propaganda.

Finally, we had an opportunity to discuss the importance of us staying
vigilant here at home. Lone actors or small groups of terrorists like
those in San Bernardino are very hard to detect. And they continue to
pose a serious threat. So at every level -- federal, state and local --
law enforcement needs to be working together, 24/7, sharing information
and connecting the dots to prevent attacks.

As we do, we’ll continue to partner with communities to help them stay
strong and resilient. That includes upholding our values, including
freedom of religion, so that we stay united as one American family.

So to summarize, the fight against ISIL will remain difficult but we
will continue to draw on all elements of our national power -- military,
intelligence, diplomacy, homeland security, law enforcement, and the
strength of our communities. And I am confident that we will prevail.
We are in a better position now than we were last month, and a better
position last month than we were three months ago.

In the end, brutality of ISIL is no match for the yearning of millions
who want to live in security and dignity. I think of the Syrian who
returned to his home in Kobani, a city that was in ruins but liberated
from ISIL. “Despite knowing life would be tougher here,” he said, “I
chose to come back.” And I think of the tens of thousands of people of Tikrit in Iraq, who have returned home, including students back at their
university, focusing on a better future.

So the road ahead will not be easy, but our coalition continues to grow
stronger. The ISIL core in Syria and Iraq continues to shrink. With
allies and partners and the service of our dedicated personnel, our
diplomats, our civilians, and our military, we will destroy this
barbaric terrorist organization and continue to stand with people across
the region who seek a better and a safer future.